Sacredness of Togetherness: Art, Religion, and Processing It All

Sacredness of Togetherness: Art, Religion, and Processing It All is a unique, multidisciplinary performance and exploration where artists and audience members will investigate their relationships to religion.

Structured as a gallery, attendees will be invited to interact with activities, move about the space, and witness performances that examine family, queerness, and growing up. These performances will include spoken word, dance, and music, in order to offer a springboard for attendees to sing together, converse, generate movement, and write collaborative poetry - all the while bridging their lived experiences with the art presented and created.

Overall, this event seeks to unveil the artistic practice and allow self-described “non-artists” to share in a creative process.

When/Where:

Human Movement Lab
98 Business Street Suite 1B Boston, MA

Doors open at 6:30pm

Cost: Free! But we welcome donations to help support the artists.

With limited capacity, we ask that you save your space in advance. If you find you are no longer able to attend, contact Shira at shirabecky@yahoo.com as soon as possible so we can open your slot to another attendee. Thank you!

What we expect:

We ask that you bring an open mind and be respectful of the lived experiences of others in the room. As an interfaith event, we will be shaing stories from many different perspectives, which requires attentiveness and care. Moreover, if this event is interesting to you, it is for you, regardless of your religious affiliation, background, or beliefs. We will cultivate a room of learning, listening, and laughing together as we process it all.

The themes of this event are suitable for all ages, but is geared for an audience ages 18+. Younger folks are welcome with adult supervision.

About the presenting artists:

Dana Alsamsam is a Syrian-American interdisciplinary movement and language artist based in Salem, Massachusetts. Since 2021, she has been the Artistic Director of Novum Dance Collective, bringing to life the company’s vision of exploring and celebrating identity through collaborative movement. She is also currently a company member with Danza Orgánica and a cast member of Madison Florence’s Finding Space project, and has previously performed with Sasso & Company, Ascendence Dance Chicago, and various independent artists. Her choreography blends poetics and athletic rebellion, with work presented across Boston and Chicago through Novum Dance Collective, Moonwater Dance Project, and more. She is a published, award-winning poet with work supported by fellowships from City of Boston Arts & Culture, Somerville Arts Council, Emerson College, Lambda Literary, and others.

Calvin Hitchcock is a composer, performer, and music director based in Jersey City, NJ. Described as “impressive,” and having “a fine ear for sonority” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review), his original work explores melody as cultural symbol, musical memory, and themes of religious control, subversion and faith. Calvin is most at home at the intersection of music and theatre, working equally as a creator, interpreter, and collaborator. His chamber opera “819: based on the Stanford Prison Experiment” placed second in the 2019-20 American Prize, and he has received Kennedy Center recognition for his incidental theatre music. Recently, Calvin was an 2022-23 Artist-in-Residence at the cell theatre in Manhattan, developing his new opera-theatre work PROPHET$, a pageant on American Evangelicalism. In addition to frequently music directing for worship services and live entertainment, he also writes, arranges and produces shows for theme parks. Calvin is a passionate educator and is on faculty at the Brooklyn Music Factory and a Teaching Artist at TADA! Youth Theater. He holds degrees in Composition from Cedarville University, a Southern Baptist university in Ohio, and Mannes/The New School, where he studied with David T. Little.

Lila Ruth Klaus (she/they) hails from Washington DC. While training and performing in DC, she was able to perform in venues such as The Kennedy Center, The White House, and The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. They received a scholarship from the Trawick foundation in 2008, and was a member of the Joy of Motion Youth Dance Ensemble, which received the Metro DC Dance Award for Best Youth Performance in 2013. She has performed and presented her choreography at Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston, Maine; the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina; Sitka Fine Arts Camp in Sitka, Alaska; the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Hibernian Hall in Dorchester; Arts at the Armory in Somerville; The Foundry in Cambridge; and Salem Arts Festival in Salem, Massachusetts. They received their BA in Dance with a concentration in Theology from Bard College in 2018 where she performed in the works of Trisha Brown both at the Richard B. Fisher Center and in New York City, during the Bard College/Trisha Brown Dance Company partnership. In 2017, their solo The Weight of Our Bones was accepted into the American College Dance Festival Northeast Gala. Lila was a part of The Dance Complex's 2022 aMaSSiT cohort. She currently works as an educator at Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, and has served as the Dance Arts Mentor at the URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy for multiple summers. Lila currently dances for Alive Dance Collective and Evolve Dynamicz, and does independent dance work with Shira Weiss

Alexandria Nunweiler (BA Dance, Winthrop University; MSc International Business, Hult International Business School) is a collaborative movement artist rooted in somatic practices that utilize improvisation and yogic philosophy to play with large life questions. Her work explores formative beliefs, guilty pleasures, and the fine line between darkness and humor present in the human spirit. Through NunweilerTanz - her independent choreographic project - she immerses audiences in thought-provoking performances by outfitting contemporary dance with comedic theater and performance art structures that weave together truth and spectacle. Her work has been featured nationally in Philadelphia Fringe, BOOM Charlotte, Piccolo Spoleto, ArtBeat, and the inaugural Boston Fringe Festival, among others. Because she believes in the village it takes to raise new ideas, Alexandria creates space in the studio for all to move, process, and be heard without hierarchy. She integrates these ideals in her roles as an Adjunct Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as the Director for Artistic Planning and Development at Dance Theatre of Greenville, as a Founding Member of The Click, and as a teaching artist in a variety of programs in the greater Boston area. Recently Alexandria was chosen as a Dancemaker resident at Boston Center for the Arts (2025/26), served as a dramaturg in Company One’s CoLab (2024/25), received the Next Steps for Boston Dance grant (2024/25), and completed a residency at The Rensing Center in Borseda, Italy (2022).

Shira Weiss (they/them) is a Boston-based dancer, choreographer, theatre artist, photographer, and educator dedicated to creating multidisciplinary art that explores queerness, religion, relationships, and growing up, with an emphasis on collaboration and lived experiences. Often rooted in Jewish culture and tradition, Shira challenges binaries between performer and audience, performance and ritual, and art and daily life. Originally from Orlando, FL, they fell in love with the arts at a very early age and have been creating ever since. They hold a BA in Theatre from Northeastern University and have taught with Wheelock Family Theater; URJ 6 Points Creative Arts Academy; Temple Beth Shalom of Needham; and Kol Isha, a Jewish Teen Activist Theatre Project. Shira currently dances with Alive Dance Collective, Lila Ruth Klaus, and Madison Florence. They also spend their time reading, trying new ice cream flavors, cuddling their cat, and befriending local dogs.

This program is supported by a grant from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Boston.